Constitutional Reform Act 2005

Lord Falconer of Thoroton: The Government announced plans for significant constitutional reform on 12 June 2003, designed to enhance the independence of the judiciary and to ensure clarity in the relationship between the executive and the judiciary. I plan shortly to introduce the required statutory instruments to bring into force those parts of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 that will deliver the central aspects of those reforms. As of 3 April 2006, I intend to bring the new Judicial Appointments Commission into being and commence those aspects of the Act that give statutory effect to the provisions of the concordat I agreed with the Lord Chief Justice.
	Roles of the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice
	As of 3 April, the Lord Chancellor's role as a judge will cease. The Lord Chief Justice will hold the additional title of President of the Courts of England and Wales and be legally recognised as the head of the judiciary in England and Wales. As set out in the concordat, the role of the Lord Chief Justice will be significantly reformed and strengthened. To support the Lord Chief Justice, the Judicial Office for England and Wales has been established and the new head of that office has recently been appointed and taken up post.
	"In addition, to give effect to the new arrangements for the handling of judicial disciplinary matters, a new Office for Judicial Complaints will be established. The arrangements relating to judicial complaints and discipline will be published shortly."
	Judicial Independence and Rule of Law
	As of 3 April, for the first time there will be a guarantee of continued judicial independence enshrined in statute, underpinned by particular duties binding on the Lord Chancellor and Ministers of the Crown to uphold judicial independence. The Act also formally recognises the constitutional principle of the rule of law and the Lord Chancellor's role in relation to that principle.
	Judicial Appointments Commission
	As of 3 April 2006, the Judicial Appointments Commission will be formally launched. The appointment of Baroness Prashar as the inaugural chair of the new commission was announced on 6 October 2005. The Queen has given effect to the following appointments:
	Judicial members
	Lord Justice Sir Robin Ernest Auld
	Lady Justice Heather Hallett DBE
	Her Honour Judge Frances Margaret Kirkham
	District Judge Charles William Frank Newman
	Tribunal member
	His Honour Judge David Stephen Pearl
	Lay Justice Member
	Lorna May Boreland-Kelly DBE JP
	Professional Members
	Mr Jonathan Philip Chadwick Sumption OBE QC
	Mr Edward Nally
	Lay Members
	Professor Hazel Gillian Genn CBE
	Sir Geoffrey David Inkin OBE
	Mr Francis John Plowden
	Ms Harriet Greville Spicer
	Ms Sara Catherine Nathan
	The appointment of the final judicial member will be announced shortly.
	The Judicial Appointments Commission will have responsibility for making selections for the appointment of all judicial office-holders (as provided for in Schedule 14 to the Constitutional Reform Act 2005). Baroness Prashar, the Lord Chief Justice and I have considered the arrangements necessary to ensure that the commission can make the decisive and confident start that we are all agreed is essential. Details of these agreed arrangements have been published today on my department's website at www.dca.gov.uk/pubs/statements/st060123.htm. They will ensure that the transitional period is as short as possible, whilst bringing about a smooth and effective handover of business to the new commission.

Energy Review

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: My right honourable friend has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	Further to the Statement made by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on 29 November 2005 launching the Energy Review, I am pleased to inform the House that the Government have today launched the public phase of this review, and that I have written to all MPs to inform them of the launch.
	The consultation has a broad scope and will consider both energy supply and demand. The consultation reinforces the Government's commitment to the four main policy goals as set out in the 2003 Energy White Paper:
	to put ourselves on a path to cut the UK's carbon dioxide emissions—the main contributor to global warming—by some 60 per cent by about 2050 with real progress made by 2020;
	to maintain the reliability of energy supplies;
	to promote competitive markets in the UK and beyond, helping to raise the rate of sustainable economic growth and to improve our productivity; and
	to ensure that every home is adequately and affordably heated.
	The consultation document sets out the energy challenges we are currently facing, and invites responses to the evidence presented as well as asking what more should be done to secure clean, affordable energy for the long term. I am keen to stimulate a wide-raging and informed debate on energy policy issues.
	I have made copies of the consultation document, Our Energy Challenge: securing clean, affordable energy for the long term, available in the Vote Office and the Libraries of the House. Copies and further information are also available on the Internet at www.dti.gov.uk/energy/review.
	The key questions posed by the consultation document are as follows:
	What more could the Government do on the demand or supply side to ensure that the UK's long-term goal of reducing carbon emissions is met?
	With the UK becoming a net energy importer and with big investments to be made over the next 20 years in generating capacity and networks, what further steps, if any, should the Government take to develop our market framework for delivering reliable energy supplies? In particular, we invite views on the implications of increased dependence on gas imports.
	The Energy White Paper left open the option of nuclear new build. Are there particular considerations that should apply to nuclear, as the Government re-examine the issues bearing on the new build? If so, what are these, and how should the Government address them?
	Are there particular considerations that should apply to carbon abatement and other low-carbon technologies in the context of electricity generation?
	What further steps should be taken towards meeting the Government's goals for ensuring that every home is adequately and affordably heated?
	Comments are also invited on:
	the long term potential of energy efficiency measures in the transport, residential, business and public sectors, and how best to achieve that potential;
	implications in the medium and long term for the transmission and network networks of significant new build in gas and electricity generation infrastructure;
	opportunities for more joint working with other countries on our energy policy goals; and
	potential measures to help bring forward technologies to replace fossil fuels in transport and heat generation in the medium and long term.
	The Government have a genuinely open mind on solutions. However, it is clear that there are no simple "one-technology" answers. The review will take account of the evidence gathered during the consultation when developing its proposals.

EU: Economic and Financial Affairs Council

Lord McKenzie of Luton: My right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	Items on the agenda are as follows.
	Presidency work programme: the Austrian presidency will give a presentation on its major priorities for the next six months;
	Stability and growth pact: ECOFIN will adopt Council opinions on the stability and programme of Finland and the convergence programmes of Denmark, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia; and a Council decision under Article 104(6) and recommendation under Article 104(7) of the EC Treaty with regard to the UK;
	Preparation of the European Council: Council will discuss the forthcoming Commission annual progress report in the run up to the spring European Council. Council will also adopt conclusions on the economic policy committee report regarding the quality of EU public finances;
	Taxation—VAT reduced rates: ECOFIN will seek political agreement on the VAT reduced rates dossier;
	Energy issues: ECOFIN will discuss energy issues following on from its December meeting.

Fire Prevention Grants

Baroness Andrews: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	I have today announced £11.4 million grant funding for fire and rescue authorities in England over the period April 2006 to March 2008 to support fire prevention work, including community fire safety, arson reduction and work with children and young people. This single grant to all fire and rescue authorities will replace the grants paid to some authorities under the Community Fire Safety Innovation Fund and the Arson Control Forum Implementation Fund in 2003–06, and provide revenue funding to complement the capital grants paid to all fire and rescue authorities under the home fire risk check initiative in 2004–08.
	Our substantial investment will support fire and rescue authorities, in partnership with others, to make continuing reductions in accidental fire deaths in the home and deliberate fires and to reduce inequality in the impact of fire by reaching the deprived households and communities most at risk. The additional funding will also assist the Government's wider neighbourhood renewal plans and complements our anti-social behaviour action plan launched recently. Copies of a table summarising the successful bids are available in the Library of the House.

Identity Fraud

Lord McKenzie of Luton: My right honourable friend the Paymaster-General (Dawn Primarolo) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	Andy Burnham (Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Home Office) and I are today meeting the banking industry to discuss the application of the Government's identity fraud strategy.
	The Home Office is today making a statement about the national strategy for tackling ID fraud. Within this strategy, the Treasury and the FSA are working with the financial services industry to ensure it has in place the most effective systems to fight financial crime. New industry guidance to be published shortly will strengthen the system of ID checks whilst reducing the inconvenience for the consumer.
	HMRC will carry out an assessment of the typical profile of frauds committed against it to assist the banks in identifying suspect payments and accounts, enabling them to make timely suspicious activity reports to the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS). HMRC will contact any firms that have been party to these frauds.
	The Chancellor and the Home Secretary recently asked Sir Stephen Lander, chair-designate of the forthcoming new Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), to undertake a review of the suspicious activity reporting regime. Sir Stephen is to report by the end of March 2006.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Andy Burnham) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	Further to Baroness Scotland's Statement of Wednesday 18 January, the Paymaster General Dawn Primarolo, and I are this afternoon meeting senior figures in law enforcement and the banking sector to discuss action against ID fraud. The significance of ID fraud has been further emphasised by recent attempts by organised criminals to defraud the tax credit system.
	The meeting will discuss further ways of improving joint working on ID fraud, in particular through developing the work of public-private groups like the Home Office-led Identity Fraud Steering Committee (IFSC). Criminals who target the public sector are also likely to target the private sector. The meeting will also be discussing ways of ensuring the maximum appropriate sharing of information to protect public and private sector organisations from ID fraud.
	As Baroness Scotland set out in her Statement, the introduction of a secure national identity scheme/identity cards scheme using biometric information will make a step change in protecting people from identity fraud. As part of the work of the Ministerial Committee on ID cards, HMRC and the Home Office continue to evaluate the role of the national identity register in combating identity fraud.
	At the meeting, the Paymaster General and I will be proposing a four step action programme to be taken forward urgently over the next few months under the Identity Fraud Steering Committee:
	First, Government will explore with CIFAS—the UK's fraud prevention service—the procedures for notifying it of the details of employees whose identities have been compromised as a result of large-scale ID theft. This will help ensure that employees whose records have been stolen will not suffer adverse impact on their credit ratings and protect their identities from further abuse.
	Secondly, the IFSC will take forward urgently plans to encourage credit reference agencies and CIFAS to share information with the public sector; for example by welcoming public sector organisations into the CIFAS membership. It will also work to ensure public sector organisations take full advantage of these new opportunities; for example, by becoming full members of the CIFAS network. This will ensure that the details of criminals who defraud, for example, the tax credit system are shared in the same way as those of criminals who attack private sector organisations. This will enable partners in both the public and private sectors to detect and prevent identity related crime.
	Thirdly, the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) will carry out a strategic review of all suspicious activity reports relating to tax credit and identity fraud to inform the strategy to tackle this threat.
	Fourthly, HMRC will produce an assessment of the typical profile of frauds committed to assist the banks in identifying suspect payments and accounts, enabling them to make timely suspicious activity reports to NCIS and SOCA.

NHS: Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities

Lord Warner: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Health has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	In my Statements of 18 October, Official Report, cols. 49–50WS, and 1 December, Official Report, cols. 40–41WS, I set out the need to streamline strategic health authorities (SHAs) and strengthen primary care trusts (PCTs) and the timetable and process for local consultations on these changes. Local consultations on changes to the boundaries of SHA began on 14 December, Official Report, cols. 151–153WS.
	The NHS Chief Executive, Sir Nigel Crisp, has now announced the appointment of 11 people who will lead the transition between current and future SHAs. The transition leads will take on this responsibility from 1 February until, subject to the final results of the consultation, new SHAs are created. Their task will be to oversee the creation of the new system over the next six months and specifically to oversee:
	planning for next year;
	the development programme for existing and new PCTs; and
	communications.
	These arrangements are being made for essential business continuity purposes. They do not prejudice the outcome of the consultation on the future shape of SHAs and each current SHA board will remain accountable to the Department of Health for its part of the NHS until Ministers determine whether, following the consultation, to establish new SHAs. Existing SHAs will remain responsible for managing the consultation process following Commissioning a Patient-Led NHS.
	The transition leads will ensure consistent management of the outcome of the consultation process across the cluster. Following the consultation process, if Ministers decide to establish new SHAs, the transition leads will be responsible for oversight of the process for establishing the new SHA, until permanent appointments are made. We expect to make permanent appointments to any new SHAs, if necessary, in the summer.
	We have emphasised that it is essential to ensure that the transition leads are creating a new system locally which works effectively with all our partners and stakeholders and particularly promotes joint working between health and social care and in the field of public health.
	The following have agreed to be SHA transition leaders:
	John Bacon: London
	Mike Farrar: Yorkshire
	David Flory: north-east
	Neil Goodwin: north-west
	Terry Hanafin: eastern
	Thelma Holland: south-west (south-west peninsula and Dorset/Somerset)
	Trevor Jones: south-west (Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire)
	Candy Morris: south-east (Kent and Medway, Surrey and Sussex)
	David Nicholson: west Midlands
	Nick Relph: south-east (Thames Valley/Hampshire and Isle of Wight)
	David Sissling: east Midlands

Television Licence Fees

Lord Davies of Oldham: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Tessa Jowell) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	The television licence fee settlement announced by the Government in February 2000 provides for changes in the licence fee of RPI plus 1.5 per cent for each year from 2000–01 to 2006–07. This settlement is designed to enable the BBC to provide a strong and distinctive schedule of high quality programmes and remain at the forefront of broadcasting technology. The settlement includes a requirement for the corporation to raise over £1 billion through efficiency savings and increased income over the period.
	Application of the RPI figure of 2.7 per cent for the year to September 2005, plus 1.5 per cent, to the current unrounded licence fees produces new rounded totals of £131.50 for a colour licence and £44.00 for a black and white licence. The necessary regulations to bring these fees into force will be laid before the House in due course. The changes will come into effect from the 1 April this year.